For another day at least, the great Scheffler-Schauffele “Schowdown” lives at the Tour Championship.
And, by all means, throw Collin Morikawa into the mix, even if he’s several strokes down the alliteration leaderboard.
Hey, a three-man race for golf’s largest financial windfall is a lot better than a one-man coup any day. There remains reason to watch the golf at East Lake Saturday, even if you only get around to it after the Georgia-Clemson postgame show.
Morikawa and Schauffele took a vegetable peeler to Scheffler’s 7-stroke first-round lead, slowly shaving thin layers from it over the course of a long, weather-delayed second round Friday.
It was darn hard work at that, given that Scheffler, a Scrooge in soft spikes, seems determined to give nothing back. He followed his first-round 65 with a 5 under 66 Friday. He’s third in the field in hitting fairways off the tee (30 of 36), second in proximity to the hole on his approaches and solid sixth in the field in strokes gained putting. Find the weakness there if you can.
And confidence may not be an issue. “I feel like my swing is in a good spot. I’ve hit it nice the last couple days. Really felt like I’ve hit a lot of lips on the greens, but hitting a lot of quality putts,” he said after his round Friday.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
It took something special to gain on him. Enter Morikawa, who posted a 63 Friday to move within four strokes of Scheffler. Schauffele did his part toward keeping the Tour Championship relevant, shooting 64 to move within five of Scheffler. The next guys are nine strokes back, whatever their names are. Can’t really make them out in the distance.
And it may require even more out-of-body golf to close further on the leader.
Self-censoring, Schauffele said: “It’s really up to (Scheffler), to be honest. I have to play out of my ‘beep’ to sniff (the lead).”
Of the man he’s chasing, Morikawa said, “He’s going to continue to make birdies. He’s driving it really, really well here and you’re giving yourself enough wedges to make some scoring opportunities out there.
“For me, it’s just bringing energy and just kind of staying alive out there.”
It’s a compelling threesome. In Scheffler and Schauffele you have the two acknowledged heavyweights of this PGA Tour season, owners of three of the four majors, their fates so intertwined now that even their surnames seem to share DNA. Morikawa is winless this year, but a formidable ball-striker when the mood is on him. This much they all share: Being close enough to the $25 million Tour Championship top prize that their accountants are all already at DEFCON 1.
At some point, some day, the top player is going to take his pretournament stroke advantage and run off and hide in East Lake’s Bermuda rough at the start of the weekend. He’ll emerge only to collect his massive bonus Sunday, leaving behind the question: If no one was watching, did it really happen?
They’ve been luckier than a trust fund baby around here for the five years since they introduced the staggered scoring system. No one holding that head start of between 2 and 10 strokes over the other 29 players has done that.
In fact, only twice in those five years has the top-seeded player even won the thing, let alone run away with it.
Sooner or later, the nature of the universe demands that a blowout must happen. That’s going to be quite the downer, considering that the entire reason behind the staggered scoring was to keep the Tour Championship more competitive than under the old points-only system.
There were some scary indications that Scheffler was going to start lapping people in this Tour Championship as early as Friday. But then, the slightest stumble: His second bogey of the tournament on the par-4 13th and a deflating par on the par-5 14th that has ranked the easiest hole on the course the last two days. He allowed hope a gasping breath.
It was how all three men responded after play was halted for 93 minutes that defined them all as serious contenders this weekend. All Scheffler did after the reboot was hit it to 10 feet on the par-4 16th with his first shot, then canned the putt in gathering darkness. He’d go on to routinely birdie the par 5 18th.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
On his return to the course, Schauffele was faced with trying to save par out of the rough on No. 17. That would require a nervy 11-foot rescue putt, before he went on to birdie 18. “I was looking bogey straight in the eye there on 17. I had to play a putt that broke about two feet downhill in the darkish weather. It’s not one I want to hit again,” Schauffele said.
All Morikawa did was tack two more birdies onto the low round of the first two days.
None of them backed down. The leaderboard still has a competitive pulse.
“I know (Scheffler’s) not going to let up, so there’s only one way to get him,” Schauffele said.
More of the same highest-quality stuff as Friday. Much more.
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